The traditional EFAITH weekend for associations and volunteers involved in the study, preservation and interpretation of industrial and technical heritage was originally planned for 2020, but had to be postponed by COVID both in that and last year. An attempt was made to organise the meeting from 13 to 15 May this year.
But a number of uncertainties make the target audience of these meetings hesitate.
There is the fact that COVID and a number of new variants are re-emerging in some regions. The war in Ukraine is also making many people wonder what is in store for us in the coming months. And finally, there are the sharply rising prices and costs.

Although the situation differs from country to country, several organisations told us that – in contrast to the large and heavily subsidised institutions – in the past few years the income from ticket sales and activities has fallen sharply or they have even had to do without it completely. It is precisely this kind of income on which they must base their operation and survival.
Unless 2022 marks a turning point, a number of organisations even fear that they will have to throw in the towel by the end of this year. It is clear, therefore, that today there is a lack of financial resources to send someone.

We understand all these problems.
We evaluated the possibilities and came to the conclusion that a physical meeting for this audience is not (yet) feasible. Nevertheless, in our opinion it is important and necessary for associations and volunteers to exchange experiences and ideas and to talk to each other.

Therefore, the weekend of 13-15 May will be moved to better times, and we will organise free virtual meetings via Zoom in 2022 to replace it.

A second webinar will be organised on Saturday 11 June
Based on the reactions and comments we received after the first webinar, we had to conclude that a full day online was too long and heavy for many people.
Therefore, we will limit the next webinars to an afternoon (2 – 5 PM).
Also, a number of people indicated that they would like more time for intervention after each lecture or at the end of the webinar. Therefore, as a test, we are including half an hour after 17 PM for discussion, comments or input from the participants, or a presentation of who they are and what they do.